Mailboxes within which mail in the United States is delivered is typically insecure, with only a simple door closing the mailbox. As such, anyone can open the door to a mailbox and gain access to the delivered mail. This presents an opportunity for thieves to steal checks and packages, for vandals to scatter delivered mail and leave unwanted things inside a mailbox.
There are numerous prior art security mailboxes, some of which having a pair of flaps in the bottom that swing downward to drop mail into a secure receptacle. In some of these prior art references, the receptacle is sufficiently deep so that if the flaps or trapdoors are pried apart, a mail thief would still not be able to reach inside and retrieve mail in the receptacle. One example of this is U.S. Pat. No. 4,724,999. However, this type of mailbox requires that substantially the entire height of the mailbox be a bulky affair that is not sufficiently compact so as to be mounted on a post. In other trapdoor or flap mechanisms, the flaps are braced against being forced open from only one end of the mailbox, leaving the flaps at the other end relatively weak and vulnerable to theft. An example of such a mailbox is U.S. Pat. No. 413, 928. Another type of security mailbox has lockable drawers, such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,915,618. The disadvantage of this type of security mailbox is that the drawer does not allow use of the full volume of the mailbox to hold mail and larger packages or envelopes. Yet another type of security mailbox is one in which a security mechanism is operated by cables, such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,753,386. However, with such arrangement, the cables may be cut which would defeat security of the mailbox. In yet another type of mailbox, the flaps or trapdoors are operated by cam surfaces, such as U.S. Pat. No. 7,607,569. In such mailboxes, the effort to operate the cams/flaps can be substantial, and the cams only hold the flaps closed at one location, causing other portions of the flaps to be weak.
Applicant proposes a security mailbox having trapdoor flaps that, when closed, are stronger than security mailboxes of the prior art. In addition, operation of the security portion of the mailbox is spring assisted, which also biases the door of the mailbox closed so that it cannot inadvertently be left open. Another advantage is that the door need only be opened a slight amount in order to close the flaps to a secure mail-holding receptacle.
The drawings are diagrammatic and not to scale, and are intended to show main components of the mailbox and their operative relationships.